Train line safety device



NOV. 17, 1942. 5 LEE 2,302,129

TRAIN LINE SAFETY DEVICE Filed Aug. 51, 1940 wllllllllll INVENTOR.

BY DANIEL F. L22 M W10 Zip-k0 ATTORNEYS.

Patented Nov. 17, 1942 TRAIN LINE SAFETY DEVICE Daniel F. Lee,Gleveland, Ohio, assignor of onethird to Roy Gair, Cleveland, Ohio-Application August 31, 19M), Serial No. 355,049

7 Claims.

This invention relates generally to improvements in the air brake linesof railway cars and more particularly to mechanism for preventing damageto such air lines when the draw bar coupler heads fail to properly meet.

In railway equipment, it is the conventional practice to provide eachcar with an air brake line, or train line, as it is more frequently desinated, which extends longitudinally from end to end of the car and.which includes an angle cock at each end thereof for closing the line ateither end of the car. These angle cocks are generally located adjacentto one side of the draw bar coupler head at each end of the car andbetween substantially horizontal planes extending through the tops andbottoms of the said coupler heads, and in the past have been subjectedto considerable damage through their engagement by the coupler headswhen the latter fail to couple properly. This failure occurs mostfrequently on curved tracks because of the angular relation which thetrack curvature imposes upon the coupler heads. For instance, due to notunusual conditions of track curvature and unevenness, the coupler headon one car may not be properly positioned to receive or gather themeeting coupler head on the car being connected thereto. Under suchconditions, the coupler head of one car may strike the angle cock of theadjacent car with such impact of force as to render it useless. This notonly necessitates'removing from the train any car having its train linethus damaged, but requires the replacement of the angle cock on any suchcar before the latter can be again put into service. This replacement ofthe angle cocks, as well as the temporary loss of service of the carsoccasions considerable expense to railways each year.

The primary object of the present invention is to reduce to a minimumthe possibility of damage to train lines of railway cars by reason ofthe coupler heads passing one another and striking the angle cocks underthe conditions pointed out above.

In accordance with the preferred form of the present invention, thetrain line of each railway car is provided with means, desirablyarranged to permit outward and downward movement of the angle cocks andshort end sections of the train line, in the event that the angle cocksshould be struck by the coupler heads of adjacent cars during couplingoperations, the said means being preferably used in conjunction with ayielding and resilient connection between the end sections of the trainline and the main section of the train line.

Another object of the present invention is to provide means forautomatically returning the angle cocks and their associated parts ofthe train line to their normal positions when the cars: are separated,in the event that the said angle cocks and parts should have beenpreviously moved out of such normal positions by the failure of thecoupler head of an adjacent car to have been properly gathered.

Still further objects of the invention are to pro.- vide safety meansfor train lines which are mechanically suited to the rigorousrequirements of train service in respect to durability, dependabilityand freedom from the necessity of frequent repairs, and which safetymeans may be economically manufactured and installed on present railwayequipment.

Further and more limited objects of the invention will appear as thedescription proceeds, and by reference to the accompanying drawing,wherein Fig. 1 is a fragmentary side elevation of the meeting ends of apair of uncoupled railway freight cars equipped with devices embodyingthe present invention, the positions which on of the end sections andthe parts associated therewith assume when the angle cock is subjectedto a hard or sudden blow being shown in dotted lines; Fig. 2 is anenlarged View in elevation illustrating the essential parts of theinvention and showing their association with an angle cock and a trainline; Fig. 3 is a still further enlarged view in vertical cross section,taken on a plan indicated by the line 33 of Fig. 2 and illustrating thelatch for the end section of the train line; and Fig. 4 is y a similarvertical cross sectional view taken on a plane indicated by the line 4-4of Fig. 2 to illustrate the trunnions for the train-line end section.

Referring now to Fig. l of the drawing, the reference numerals l0 and Hdesignate the meeting ends of a pair of railway cars which may becoupled together by the usual draft couplings it, the interlocking headsl3 and Id of which are mounted on and carried by draw bars 15 and i6respectively. These draw bars are usually mounted to swing horizontallyupon vertical pins or suitable guides (not shown) thereby to provide aloosely pivoted mounting therefor below the cars I!) and l l, as is wellknown to those skilled in the art.

As above pointed out, misalignment of the heads l3 and I4, ifsuiiiciently great, will cause them to miss and pass each other and, insome instances, to be carried as far as the end sills of the oppositecars. When this occurs, the angle cock on the end of one of the cars isapt to be damaged by the coupler head on the other car, due to thelocation of the angle cocks adjacent to the sides of the coupler headsand intermediate the tops and bottoms of the latter.

To eliminate this possible damage to the angle cocks Ill and 19, as wellas to the train line of the cars It and M, respectively, when the heads53 and It pass each other, I provide yieldable means which will permitnot only a short axial movement of the end sections of the train lineswhich carry the angle cocks, but which will also permit said sectionsand the angle cocks thereon to swing in a direction outwardly anddownwardly away from the heads which collide there with, therebyavoiding injury to the said angle cocks and to the main train-linesections 2! and 22.

As each end of each railway car is preferably supplied with one of myimproved yieldable trainline safety devices, and as all of such devicesare identical in construction, a description of one of said devices willsuflice for all.

In Fig. 2, one of these devices is illustrated in detail, the same beingthe one shown as applied to the end 253 of the car i i. In this view, 23designates an elongated channeled casing which is affixed to theunderside of the car in any suitable manner as, for example, by an anglebracket is, shown by dot-and-dash lines in Fig. v i. The bracket 24 isdesigned to support the channeled casing 23 below the car with its openside directed downwardly and outwardly away from the head It, the sides23 forming an angle of approximately 45 with a horizontal plane, asillustrated in Fig. l. The major portion of the short trainline endsection 25 is normally housed within the casing 23 and has its outer endthreaded to receive one end of the angle cook it. The inner end of saidsection 25 is also threaded to receive a coupling 26 which cooperateswith a similar coupling 2'? to join the ends of a flexible train linesection 28 with the section 25 and with the main train-line section 22.The section 25 is so mounted as to have a short sliding movement withinthe casing 23 as by opposed pins 29, 2e, welded or otherwise connectedto said section, as best shown in Fig. 4. These pins extend throughslots 35, iii! in the flanges 23 23 of the casing 23, as clearlyillustrated in Figs. 2 and 4.

It will be noted from Fig. 1 that the slots 38 are located near the rearend of the casing 23 and that the pins 29 are attached to the trainlinesection 25 adjacent to the inner end thereof so as to allow the saidsection 25 to swing outwardly, through the open side of the channeledcasing, on the pivot pins 29, 29. The train-line section 25, however, isnormally held in nested position within the casing 23 by the spring 35the leaves of which are secured to the channeled plate 32, as by a bolt33 and nut 33*, said plate being welded or otherwise connected to therear end of the casing 23, as shown.

It has just been described how the train line section 25 is normallyheld in operative position within the channel 23 by the spring 3!, andit is normally retained in this position by means of a latch comprisinga spring-pressed plunger pin. the latch being designated as a whole bythe reference numeral 34. This plunger is so designed that thetrain-line section 25 can be swung out of the casing 23 only by'a hard,sudden jolt or blow and is prevented from being displaced otherwise, asby being stepped upon or kicked by a brakeman. The preferred form of thelatch is illustrated in Fig. 3 and, as there shown, comprises a casing Mone end of which is provided with an externally threaded neck 35 whichis received by a threaded hole 35 provided in one of the flanges 23 ofthe casing 23. The outer end of the casing se is shown as internallythreaded to receive the externally threaded closure cap 35. The neck 35is bored to receive th plunger pin 3?, the outward movement of said pinbeing limited by an internally formed shoulder 33, said shoulder alsoserving as one seat for a coiled spring 39, the spring being held undertension by the closure cap 3%. It will, therefore, be apparent that theplunger pin 3? is normally held in the position shown in Fig. 3 and thatit is of such length as to prevent accidental displacement of thetrain-line section 25. It will also be noted that the upper end of thepin 37 is slightly below the longitudinal center of the train-linesection 25 (see Fig. 3) and that it is provided immediately below suchend with a short slight cam surface id. Should the section 25 bedisplaced from its normal position (as by collision of a coupler headwith the angle cock), it may be automatically restored to its originalposition by the spring 38, due to the length and inclination of the camsurface it which is on the opposite side of the plunger 3? from theshort cam surface it.

With the parts constructed and arranged as described, assuming, forinstance, that the coupler head 13 of the car iii fails to properly meetand couple with the coupler head M of the car H and that the said headspass each other, the angle cook 57 would be in the path of and subjectto damage by the head it, whereas the angle cock i9 would be in the pathof and subject to damage by the head it. Should this condition prevail,when either of the coupler heads strikes an angle cook, the shorttrain-line section to which the angle cock is attached will be permitteda longitudinal movement by virtue of the slots 33 and the flexiblesection 28 until the pins 29, 29 engage the rear ends of such slots 3&3.Should either of the coupler heads pass the other a distance greaterthan the length of the slots 36, the angle cock and the train-linesection on the opposite car will then be forced outwardly and downward-1y, if the impact of the coupler head on the angle cock is sufficient tocam the plunger pin 37 downwardly out of the path of said train-linesection thereby avoiding damage to the angle cock and the maintrain-line section 22. Assuming that a train-line section 25 and theangle cock thereon have been forced from their normal position by thepassing of one coupler head beyond the other, when the cars It) and I Iare separated, the spring 35 will function to return the said train-linesection 25 to its normal position within the casing 23, and the section25 will be moved forwardly by the flexible section 28 so that the pins29 will again occupy the forward ends of the slots 30.

It will be evident, from the foregoing, that I have provided apractical, simple, but efficient construction for realizing the objectsof my invention.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

l. The combination, with a car provided with a coupler head, of a trainline comprising a main section and an end section provided'with an anglecock, means connecting said main and end sections for permitting the endsection to be moved longitudinally with respect to'the main section andfor supporting said end section for movement laterally with respect tothe coupler head,

and means independent of said coupler head for normally holding said endsection in position to locate the angle cock adjacent to one side of thecoupler head and between substantially horizontal planes extendingthrough the top and bottom of said coupler head.

2. The combination, with a car provided with a coupler head, of a trainline comprising a main section, an end section provided with an anglecock and an intermediate flexible section connecting th main and endsections, means independent of said coupler head for pivotally andslidably supporting the said end section, and means for yieldablyholding the said end section in position to locate the angle cockadjacent to one side of the coupler head and between substantiallyhorizontal planes extending through the top and bottom of said couplerhead.

3. In the combination set forth in claim 1, means for restoring said endsection and the angle cock thereof to their operative relation to thecoupler head following their displacement from said relation.

4. The combination, with a car provided with a coupler head, of a trainline comprising a main section and an end section provided with an anglecock, a channeled casing supported by said car adjacent to one side ofthe said coupler head and having its open side directed away from thesaid head, and means pivotally supporting the said end section in saidcasing, with its outer end and the angle cock located outside the casingand with the angle cock located between substantially horizontal planesextending through the top and bottom of said coupler head.

5. The combination, with a car provided With a coupler head, of a trainline comprising a main section, an end section provided with an anglecock and an intermediate flexible section connecting the main and endsections, a channeled casing supported by said car adjacent to one sideof the said coupler head and having its open side directed away fromsaid head, opposed trunnion pins carried by the inner end portion ofsaid end section and extending into slots extending longitudinally ofopposed sides of said casing, and means yieldably retaining the endsection within the casing with its outer end and the angle cock locatedoutside the casing and with the angle cock located between substantiallyhorizontal planes extending through the top and bottom of said couplerhead.

6. The combination, with a car provided with a coupler head, of a trainline comprising a main section, an end section provided with an anglecock and an intermediat flexible section connecting the main and endsections, a channeled casing supported by said car adjacent to one sideof the said coupler head and having its open side directed away fromsaid head, opposed trunnion pins carried by the inner end portion ofsaid end section and extending into slots extending longitudinally ofopposed sides of said casing, means yieldably retaining the end sectionwithin the casing with its outer end and the angle cock located outsidethe casing and with the angle cock located between substantiallyhorizontal planes extending through the top and bottom of said couplerhead, and means for restoring said end section to its operative positionwithin the casing after having been displaced therefrom.

'7. In the combination set forth in claim 6, the means for yieldablyretaining the end section within the casing comprising a yieldableplunger pin engaging one side of said section near the outer end portionthereof and having opposed cam surfaces one of which surfaces is adaptedto be engaged by one of the sides of said section as the outer portionthereof is swung out of the casing and the other of which surfaces isadapted to be engaged by the opposite side of said section as its outerportion is returned to its operative position within the casing.

DANIEL F. LEE.

